Although it has not officially premiered (scheduled for January 10, 2025), Babygirl has already garnered attention from the media and audiences alike.
Babygirl is described as a psychological thriller, adapted from a play by Halina Reijn, who directs and produces the film. In the movie, Nicole Kidman plays a middle-aged female executive. She embarks on a passionate affair with a young male intern, portrayed by Harris Dickinson.
In August, the film won the prestigious Best Actress award for “The Australian Swan” at the 81st Venice International Film Festival.
In an interview with The Sun on October 22, Nicole revealed that there were intense moments on set where she had to exert a lot of effort, especially during the steamy scenes with her male co-stars (Dickinson as the young lover and Antonio Banderas as the husband), which truly tested her limits.
“There’s a lot of division, trust, and then there’s intimacy. It’s like ‘it’s getting closer to me.’ There were times when we were filming that I thought, ‘it’s getting too close. I hate doing this.’ I don’t care if I never get close to anyone in real life. I feel too exposed. For me, it gives a sense of intimacy like a hug,†shared the 57-year-old actress.
In her over 40-year acting career, Nicole has never shied away from intense scenes. She previously appeared in steamy scenes in the iconic movie Eyes Wide Shut (1999), alongside Tom Cruise, and engaged in a provocative role with Colin Farrell in Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017). In 2024, she will also partake in steamy scenes with Zac Efron and Liev Schreiber in A Family Affair and The Perfect Couple.
However, Babygirl is considered her most provocative performance to date.
Despite working tirelessly, Nicole did not hold back. The Aquaman star noted that this was an area she had never experienced in her career. As an actress, she always seeks new challenges while also pushing her personal boundaries.
Nicole added that when she read the script, she felt the content was both sad yet stimulating and immersive.
According to the synopsis, director Halina Reijn created Babygirl with inspiration from the thriller Basic Instinct and centers around a woman who has never experienced the thrill of intimacy throughout her 25-year marriage.
Nicole believes that aside from the help from the team, the main reason it allowed her to portray those intense moments is that Halina is a female director. Additionally, she, along with Dickinson (28) and Banderas (64), shares a mutual understanding and often supports each other.
Nicole further shared that she and her co-stars did not feel constrained or limited by the intense scenes.
“I am someone who really believes in the integrity of a scene or the space of the actors. It will never be violated because it belongs to us. It’s a bubble that separates us from the outside world. I think I wouldn’t be able to do what I do when working with a male director. Being in Halina’s hands, I know she won’t exploit me. I feel like I am a part of the story. It’s a story I want to return to being a part of, a story I want to tell, and every part of me is committed to that story,†shared the blonde actress confidently.
According to Nicole, she had conversations with her family, including husband Keith Urban and their two daughters Sunday Rose (16) and Faith Margaret (13), before taking on the role. Nicole’s husband is a musician, which helps her understand the nature of her work, as both daughters are sensitive to their mother, but the actress also has to accept the discomfort that comes with pursuing her passion.
